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Mass urbanisation in cities of the global South, is causing cities to evolve, with informal settlements being central to this evolution. While local government is the official point of interaction for urban informal settlement dwellers, those interactions are often characterised by a lack of meaningful participation. Engaging with the co-production literature and two case studies of informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper examines how they shed light on the shifting and constantly evolving roles and practices of local government and community actors within a co-production engagement. Based on the findings from these cases, the paper argues that co-production as a practice of collaboration between the local state and citizens can allow for the forging of new relationships, built on trust, sharing of resources and a more equal distribution of power where communities can shape the outcomes of service delivery projects to respond to their needs and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate South Africa's implementation of educational Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is led by Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces, for participation in the global knowledge economy. Accordingly, the two provinces are in the forefront of educational ICT implementation aimed at preparing learners for participation in the global knowledge economy and national development. The paper uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to examine South Africa in comparison with fourteen developing countries to establish that its approach towards implementation of educational technology is not appropriate, sustainable nor effective for a developing country. Experiences of developing countries such as Vietnam, Zambia and Kenya, which are in the medium and low Human Development Index (HDI) categories, show that national technological cultures of people have not evolved into what is characterised as the 'Net Natives', which is one of the primary driving force for the adoption of blended pedagogies as an approach for implementing educational technology, to enhance participation in the global knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is limited literature pertaining to planning in the Global South, in comparison to the literature base of planning in the global North, and some believe that much of the planning literature on the Global South comes from outside the continent, and does not reflect indigenous African-knowledge. The aim of this paper is to evaluate literature relating to South African planning approaches as point of departure to validate the claims pertaining to authorship of literature, and to further investigate the thematic content that is published. The empirical investigation considered 125 papers that were identified through a qualitative inquiry as part of theory-based sampling, where the respective titles of the papers were captured and 345 key words identified and information visualisation techniques employed to illustrate such. Conclusions were drawn with regard to (1) planning literature of South Africa (and references to Africa), (2) current research themes being investigated within the local South African context, and (3) future research opportunities which could advance the science of planning, teaching-learning approaches and contribute to broadening the local planning literature base within the Global South, whilst decolonising urban theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change is arguably one of the biggest challenges globally. In order for countries to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement, climate investments need to be scaled up for adaptation and mitigation strategies. Green bonds are one of the most emerging climate finance mechanisms for large-scale climate projects and offer investment opportunities for many developing countries. Most developing countries are heavily reliant on climate funds which are insufficient. Hence, the urgent need to tap into emerging climate finances such as green bonds. Out of all the regions, Africa is expected to be the worst impacted by climate change and green bonds can contribute to the much needed climate finances. The growth of the green bond market has been observed in the economic hubs of the continent with countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa demonstrating huge potential in being active and contributing to the growth of the market. However, this paper recommends that for the green bond market to further expand in these countries and rest of the continent, there needs to be public–private partnerships fostered, integrated policies, political will as well as effective institutional frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clean development mechanism (CDM) is intended to serve as a market-based incentive that is both efficient and cost-effective for eligible developing countries. The analysis contained in this article explores why, in theory, such an attractive incentive opportunity has been so under-utilised in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper compares the experience of the CDM in South Africa and Zambia. These two Southern African countries were selected because of their varying levels of statehood, South Africa being an emerging, middle-income economy while Zambia is classified as a least developed country. General challenges affecting the CDM were identified in the literature to be awareness, capacity, eligibility and access to finance. The paper then compares how these overarching issues specifically impact the CDM experience in South Africa and Zambia. The paper finds that common complexities relating to the CDM have varying implications for eligible host countries at different levels of statehood. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

International development projects that support entrepreneurship face a number of challenges, not least because they need to integrate different paradigms. Based on the case study of a Canadian non-governmental organisation in South Africa, this paper provides an exploratory assessment of these challenges and highlights four major factors that affect the success of such international projects: transposing a northern business model to the south; developing local roots and adapting to the local context; balancing the allocation of resources between managing the project and providing services to entrepreneurs; and aligning the cultures of the private sector and international development agencies. In practical terms, the findings provide benchmarks for the success of these projects and could help improve interventions that encourage entrepreneurship in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Protecting cultural heritage is a challenge for developing countries, particularly where heritage sites are widely spread in rural areas and may not include impressive buildings and monuments. A potential solution adopted by a growing number of these countries is to link small sites of mainly local significance into a cultural heritage route and market them as a package while also improving the management and conservation of heritage assets. The tourism potential of such routes is often emphasised in local economic development (LED) strategies, envisaged as providing revenue-generating opportunities for conserving heritage assets. This paper explores the potential for economic development and heritage conservation of the Liberation Heritage Route in South Africa. This project may have non-market value in protecting cultural capital, but financial and other LED benefits are unlikely to be forthcoming in the short run, which could jeopardise the sustainability of the heritage protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The neoliberal offensive incipient during the 1970s matured into a globally hegemonic discourse during the 1990s. Developing countries like South Africa have their own peculiar brand of neoliberalism. This has taken various forms in South Africa, one of which is privatisation. Its discursive origins may be traced to key thinkers and institutions. And while there is a general discourse of privatisation there also exist sub-discourses in particular sectors, such as the water services sector. This paper examines the way a general discourse of privatisation evolved in South Africa and how this discourse has filtered into water services delivery. It argues that key role players and institutions acted as disseminators of a discourse of privatisation in the water services sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]